Alongside the release of their second studio album titled Automatic, Don Broco scheduled a number of HMV in-store signings as well as intimate gigs up and down England.
I managed to get a ticket for their London date (August 7th 2015) at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen before they sold out, and I’m so glad that I did because the night was spectacular to say the least.
Having seen Don Broco a number of times prior I knew the general set up of their gigs.
How they spend the majority of the gig in the air because they jump so much.
How they walk in synchronisation for the intro of Priorities.
And how they encourage the audience to do push ups during Thug Workout.
But this was different.
This was an intimate gig with no more than 200 people in the audience.
To say things got hot and sweaty was an understatement. The audience were suffering but it was nothing compared to the Don Broco guys. Sweat was literally dripping down their faces. Yikes.
Their setlist for the gig was as follows:
Money Power Fame
Yeah Man
Superlove
Whole Truth
Hold On
What You Do To Me
Fire
Nerve
Thug Workout
Priorities
Automatic
Fancy Dress
Actors
You Wanna Know
And you couldn’t have asked for a better choice of songs.
It was a good mix of old material from their 2011 album Priorities and new songs from their latest album which was released on the 7th of August 2015. With the addition of Thug Workout from way back in 2009, because let’s face it, it goes down a treat every time.
They were always going to play new material but it was refreshing to see that they didn’t fill the whole setlist with songs from Automatic that the audience wouldn’t be able to sing along to.
The guys in Don Broco always connect well with the audience, to the point where even during the first song the crowd was buzzing with energy. (Which didn’t diminish whatsoever.)
The fact that it was an intimate show made the energy all the more electric.
Frontman Rob Damiani spoke in between songs a number of times and mentioned that they were happy to have finally released their second album, he also thanked those in the audience who had already bought a copy.
There was a pause towards the end of the gig where the crowd sung happy birthday to Rob’s dad, which led Rob to tell the story of how he had forgotten that it was his dad’s birthday. (Hey, it happens to the best of us!)
Overall the gig was absolutely amazing. When bands accumulate a larger audience they very rarely look back and even consider playing smaller venues.
Whilst there’s nothing wrong in that, they obviously need the larger venues to accommodate their fans, it’s lovely to see bands go back and play the smaller stages where literally centimetres separates them from the crowd.
If you missed out on your chance to see Don Broco this time round don’t fret because they are playing Reading and Leeds late August, and are back in December headlining Brixton O2 Academy.
Grab tickets for Brixton whilst they’re still available!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ59HPH2X20]